We're History
Using Ancient History to connect with
Muslim Desert Dwellers
Few things are as close to the heart of a people as their history. That is what we are finding among the Tamajaq people in the Madaoua area of Niger. It is the history that tells young people who they are and where they come from.
As we considered how we could share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Tamajaq people around us, one idea kept coming up. If only people could read. People who can't read live in a very small world and are largely dependent upon what they had been told. It is similar to Europe prior to the printing press. But when someone can read, suddenly his world opens up. If the Tamajaq people were readers, we could put the Scriptures in their hands. The Bible is still the most effective tool for evangelism as it is the very word of God. We began wondering how we could encourage reading among these people.
A Visit with a King's Son
A break came one day when I was visiting
a village west of Madaoua. I was sitting on a mat having tea with the son
of a Tamajaq king. This was actually a village that a couple SIM doctors
made contact with through the ministry of the hospital at Galmi. I asked
the son what he felt his people needed most.
I was braced for a barrage of requests (e.g. a new well, a financial aid, etc.) but I was surprised by his answer. He said, "My people need to learn to read. For centuries, this was not necessary. We were wealthy with hundreds of sheep, goats and camels. In the past we had no need for schools. Our schools were what the fathers taught their sons about the herds and what the mothers taught their daughters about running the household. We refused to send our children to the schools that the French colonists started. Today that wealth is gone. The world has changed and we must change with it."
I asked the son what was keeping his people from learning to read. He said that there had been attempts by different relief agencies to teach reading but he said that people weren't very motivated. The reason was there was no literature to read. Even if someone did learn a little, he had nothing to practice on. He said we need material that would interest our people.
A New Idea
These observations gave me an idea. What if we helped produced
materials. Might this be the start of a renewed interest in learning to
read. I asked the kings son what kind of material would interest his
people. He thought for a moment and said, "Health." Our
people battle sickness and disease all the time, especially the children.
He listed a number of topics that interested him. He suggested something
on nutrition, dehydration (a big problem in Niger), eye problems, snake bite,
malaria, etc. I told him that I would see what we could come up with.
I asked the doctors at Galmi Hospital (SIM) for help. They suggested that we start with articles from the book Where there is no Doctor. We translated portions and made booklets out of them. I consulted with several doctors to make sure our facts were relevant to Niger.
We went back to the village and the people were very interested in these booklets. One man with some reading ability would read the booklet out loud and the rest of the people would gather around to listen.
"My Generation doesn't know its
History"
Some time later, the kings son said he had another idea. He said, "My
Generation doesn't know its History. Young people are listening to transistor
radios and spending more time in town. They are no longer listening to the
old men at night around the teapot." He pointed to a group of old men
and said, "Those men are our history books and they won't be around much
longer." He suggested that we make a recording of his father (the
Tamajaq king in the region) telling the history his people.
When we sat down with the king, we asked one
simple question, "What would you like the young people to know about the
history of your people." That was all he needed. He talked for
about 45 minutes without a pause. We made the recording, transcribed the
text and edited it into a booklet complete with pictures.
When we finished the booklet Mike (my brother) and I went back to the village and presented it to the king. He held the book. Looked at the pictures and then handed it back to me and said, "Read it to me." I read the booklet that we had poured over for over a month to the king. When I finished, he smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work. What I said on the tape, you have faithfully written down. Only one thing remains." He paused, "We need to give a copy of this to the other Tamajaq kings and the other Tamajaq villages." We promised him that we would.
The booklet was well received in the other villages but usually resulted in the question, "When are you coming to our village. Our history is just as important." Soon we had more invitations than we had time to visit. We did go to another village where the Muslim holy man lived. There we recorded the history of the some of the battles between the Tamajaq people and the French soldiers who tried to tame their independent spirit. Mike is currently working on the revisions of this project.
The Result So Far
What has been the value of this effort
to record the history of the Tamajaq people?
This village is now being visited by a health team from Galmi hospital. This team will do basic health teaching but will also combine it with teaching from the Bible. There doesn't seem to be any suspicion toward missionaries or national Christians.
Mike has a friend who works for the government in teaching literacy. He was thrilled when he saw the histories written in Tamajaq. He would like to use them with his students. It will help excite people about reading and we could have contact with the students. We believe the relationship is strong enough that we could put the Scriptures into the hands of the new readers.
But something else happened in the process of working on these history booklets. We grew in our respect and appreciation for the people that the Lord had sent us to. We were able to pull back the curtain and catch a glimpse into the past of these noble people.